The new Lincs and Notts Air Ambulance has taken to the sky

After more than a year in the planning Lincs and Notts Air Ambulance are delighted to announce that its new state-of-the-art ambucopter has now taken to the sky.

The AW169 has significant benefits and will enhance patient care. It is bigger, giving paramedics and doctors 360-degree access to patients in flight, it is faster meaning it can get to patients quicker and it has better endurance meaning it can fly further without the need to refuel.

CEO Karen Jobling said: “Excellent patient care is at the heart of everything we do. The combination of speed, endurance, and technology of the AW169 will be of huge benefit to our patients, giving them the very best chances of survival possible in their greatest hour of need.

“The aircraft also has the most advanced navigation capabilities on offer in the industry and is extremely future-proof.

“We are proud to say that our charity saves lives every day, and with this new aircraft we can continue doing so for many years to come.

“This is only possible thanks to the generous support from the people, organisations and businesses in the communities within which we serve.

“A heart-felt thank you goes out to each and every one of them. I’m sure our supporters will be pleased to see that the new Ambucopter is the same yellow colour that we have all grown so fond of and that it will be spotted very soon flying through our skies, on route to another life-saving mission.”

The Lincs and Notts Air Ambulance operate’s with no Government or National Lottery funding so rely on donations to continue saving lives every day of the year.

Each life-saving mission undertaken with the new aircraft will cost an average of £2,500 and with around 1,000 of these missions undertaken every year, it needs to raise £2.5million over the next year.

The Lincs and Notts Air Ambulance has been operational for more than 23 years and in that time the crew have responded to more than 18,200 of the most serious and time critical 999 calls across our counties including road traffic collisions, cardiac arrests, sporting accidents, farming incidents, falls, and many more involving both adults and children.

The cost of the final week of flying on the outgoing MD902 helicopter, which has served the charity for the past seven years, has been paid for by the Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance Charitable Association with a total donation of £44,100.

As well as being the Air Ambulance’s biggest and fastest aircraft to date, it is also the most technologically advanced and it is top of the range in the Helicopter Emergency Medical Service.